


If I Could Turn Back Time

by TheFirstMrsHummel



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: M/M, Moira Rose POV, mention of past drug/alcohol use, protective patrick brewer, spoilers for The Hike I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 10:42:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18467302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFirstMrsHummel/pseuds/TheFirstMrsHummel
Summary: The Rose family fortune is restored, but Moira’s not at all prepared for what happens next.





	If I Could Turn Back Time

**Author's Note:**

> This is the Moira POV that perhaps no one wants or needs, but after observing her reactions to the engagement in “Life is a Cabaret”, my brain made me write this. I don’t normally write non-romance-centric fics, but I hope you enjoy.

Moira rushed to the door of her motel room, thrilled to see that David had responded to her voice mail so quickly. She pulled him into the room enthusiastically, beaming in the face of her son’s confused demeanor.

“It’s happened, my darling! We’re finally free!”

“Okay,” said David, looking at her warily. “That’s what your message said. Could I get a few more details, please.”

“Eli passed!” It may have been poor taste to make the announcement so triumphantly, but she cared not a jot about the man who had taken her family’s trust along with their wealth and fame. “Your father joined in on a class-action lawsuit with the others he’d stolen from, even though I told him it was a lost cause. But now that the man is deceased, his estate settled. We don’t have everything we lost, but it’s more than enough to eke our way back in.”

“Back into what?” David’s face twisted unpleasantly.

Now it was Moira who was confused. She’d always felt connected to David, in a way that she’d struggled to with Alexis, her surprise change-of-life baby. But he was looking at her as if she was a stranger, someone he wished he wasn’t seeing at the moment.

“To our old life, darling.” She held out her hands, but David for some reason refused to reach out for them. “This is a most exhilarating development.”

“No.”

The flat rejection was like fire and ice at the same time, flaying her skin to the bone. David’s brows, so like John’s, were knit in disapproval. It sent a knife of worry into her stomach to see David looking at her with such naked hurt, when she’d only meant to share the good news of their restored fortune.

“I don’t understand. You could bring your dear Patrick with you, of course.”

David turned from her, covering his face. The glint of the beautiful gold rings adorning his left hand caught the dim motel lighting. The ones Patrick had given him, revealed on another day when unfortunately, other matters took greater precedence.

“I don’t _bring_ people with me anywhere anymore, let alone my fiancé,” David said scathingly, removing his hands and glaring through damp eyes. “We _go_ places together, when we both agree it’s the right thing for us.”

“I didn’t mean to cause offense, darling. I just want us to be able to move on to a better future for our family.”

“Patrick is my family.” David inhaled deeply, backing towards the door in obvious distress. “We built the store together. It’s where we fell in love, where we live that love every single day. You can’t honestly think that Patrick would want the life I had before moving here.”

“Have you ever asked him?” Moira arched a brow, certain that she had the upper hand. Who wouldn’t want to live in a grand mansion, with attentive servants and parties with all the right people?

“Of course I have,” said David, shocking her. “You don’t think he knows everything about the shallow, lonely existence I had before moving here? He knows. He knows it was filled with people who only tolerated my presence because I was paying for everything. That I had to get high and drunk and laid all the time to try to fool myself into believing I was happy. That we were so obsessed with having money and things, it blinded us to the fact that our family was just a bunch of messy strangers living more or less under the same roof.”

His voice rose higher, anguish Moira had never heard before tinging his anger. “David-“

“Why would Patrick want that life? Why would anyone? I don’t even want it! It was an ocean of emptiness, and I couldn’t understand that until I had something good and filled with love to compare it to. We have everything we need here, our lives and our store and each other. You can do whatever you want, but I’m not going anywhere. This is my home now.”

Moira reached for her son, but he held up a hand to ward her off, like she was the enemy. _And maybe you are_ , she thought, as tears sprung to her eyes. David gave her one last look, filled with so much pain and sadness it made her breath catch, before turning and running out the door. Running away from her, and from news that had turned out to be so unexpectedly unwelcome.

~*~

Hours later she sat at the end of her bed, looking down at her hands folded into her lap. While she thought she would end the day making plans with her excited and happy family to get out of Schitt’s Creek, it had turned out far differently than she ever expected.

The knock at the door surprised her as well. She got up listlessly to open it, but felt a surge of emotion when she saw who was on the other side. Patrick Brewer, her son’s sweet and adoring beau, who had always smiled at her with warm humor and a hint of need for approval. He didn’t look sweet now though, nor was he smiling. Moira had never seen anger or disappointment in Patrick’s dark brown eyes, but they were both there now, and it made her want to cringe and slam the door in his face.

She didn’t, of course. It would be rude and uncivilized. “Come in, Patrick.”

Moira sat back down on the edge of the bed, gathering what little strength she had left to meet her future son-in-law’s eyes.

“How dare you?” Patrick said, his voice trembling with hurt. “How dare you try to take him away from here, from the only place he’s ever been happy?”

“I didn’t know he wouldn’t want this,” Moira said, an edge of desperation bleeding into her words.

“Bullshit.”

Moira reared back. Patrick had never even sworn in her presence, let alone directly at her.

“You knew,” Patrick continued. “You just pretended like it didn’t matter, because it got in the way of what you wanted. What kind of mother does that?”

Moira hung her head, unable to look at Patrick. She had met Marci at the surprise party, had known the type of mother that he had grown up with. Gentle, supportive, openly loving and deeply maternal, with none of Moira’s selfishness, ego or sharp edges. She tried to rally behind the knowledge that at least _her_ son hadn’t been afraid to share his sexuality with her, but ultimately knew that fact was much more about David than it was about Moira.  David simply hadn’t cared enough about losing their relationship when he came out, because admittedly, there hadn’t been a whole lot there to lose. They were close on only the most superficial of levels back then, bonded by gossip and fashion instead of concern and love.

She raised her head slightly before responding. “Not a very good one, I’m afraid.”

Patrick’s eyes softened a little; it was almost imperceptible, but she’d spent weeks coaching Patrick in _Cabaret_ rehearsals and knew every millimeter of his subtlety expressive face. “At least you’re somewhat self-aware,” he said.

“Oh, I’m well aware of my failings.” Tears welled up in her eyes, and she dabbed at the corners delicately. “It wasn’t until today though, that I was faced with the consequences of them. It’s not just David, you know.”

Patrick frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I spoke to Alexis as well today. She has no intention of leaving either. She and Ted grew quite close while in the Galapagos Islands, even closer than before. She thinks he might be proposing himself soon, once you and David are finally married. They’re both very concerned that they don’t steal your thunder and shift focus onto themselves.”

She left unmentioned how moved she’d been by Alexis’s selflessness and willingness to be patient, until it was her time in the spotlight.

“I see,” said Patrick. His posture relaxed, and he moved to sit on the end of the other bed, turning to face Moira. “It’s a natural thing though, for adult kids to move on with their own lives, apart from their parents. I would think you’d be used to that, at least prior to moving here.”

“I’ve…become accustomed to having them close at hand.” She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “I’ve enjoyed it more than I thought possible. They have become the most wonderful people, though I feel like that’s much more despite me than because of me.”

The side of Patrick’s mouth ticked up with a half-smile. “You’ve had your moments. You’ll never win Mother of the Year, I guess, but you have them.”

Moira’s heart melted, so grateful that this incredible man had come into David’s life, into all of their lives and helped make everything better.  “Thank you, Patrick.”

Patrick smiled, full on this time, and grabbed her hand. “You’re welcome.”

They sat for a long moment, Moira gaining strength from the warmth of Patrick’s hand before continuing.

“John doesn’t want to leave either.”

Patrick jolted, squeezing her hand and staring with wide eyes. “Oh.”

“He says he’s found his purpose here, running the motel. He even has an idea for buying a similar place in Elmdale that’s coming up for sale. I think he might just be on the cusp of starting a whole new empire, this time in hospitality. I’ve seen it before; the fire in his eyes, the excitement in his voice. He’s come alive again here, just as David and Alexis have.”

“But you haven’t?”

“Not like them. I’ve had my wins here and there, but nothing like what I had before I came here.”

“Maybe you could be okay with something different. Not better or worse. Just…different.”

Moira stood up, releasing Patrick’s hand. “I’m at a crossroads. I can have the lifestyle and financial security that I had before, or I can have my family, but not both. I suppose you think I’m an awful person to even question which one I should choose.”

“I don’t think you’re an awful person. I know you came from a small town, not so different than this, and you escaped to success, fame and money beyond what you ever thought you could have. Some of us grow up in small towns and are okay with that, but other people dream of kicking the dust off their shoes until they finally can. And once they do, I can understand why it might be hard to go back. I understand, Moira.”

Patrick had never called her anything but “Mrs. Rose” before, even through touching family moments and brutal _Cabaret_ rehearsals. It made her feel like he saw her as a person, underneath all the changing skins she wore to navigate life.

All at once, everything fell into place.

“I can live without the money and the fame. But I don’t think I can live without them. That’s the long and the short of it, right?”

“I think it is.” Patrick stood, opening his arms. Moira went into them, letting out the sobs that had been building up all day.

“I should tell them,” she murmured eventually, feeling lighter than in decades before.

“They’re at the café, actually. I’d be happy to escort you.”

Moira smiled, feeling as comfortable in her skin as she had since the moment they moved to Schitt’s Creek.

“Lead the way.”


End file.
